‘It’s a frame-up, we’ll appeal’

Abdul Sattar Guru has not been on talking terms with his son since 1987, but today, he spoke out in his defence: ‘‘I can say with ...

Abdul Sattar Guru has not been on talking terms with his son since 1987, but today, he spoke out in his defence: ‘‘I can say with authority that my son Shaukat has been sentenced for nothing.’’ Shaukat Guru was sentenced to death in the Parliament attack case by a Special Court in New Delhi today along with Professor S A R Gilani and Mohammed Afzal. Far away in his Dobgah village in Baramulla, his family mourned the verdict and voiced a sentiment whose echoes could be heard across this North Kashmir district: ‘‘It’s a frame-up.’’

‘‘We are poor people, we can’t appeal further,’’ Abdul Guru added. ‘‘We can’t afford to fight the Government.’’

Just five kilometres away, in Jadeed Mohalla, Gilani’s family huddled into a room as family and friends poured in. ‘‘We were expecting a fair trial. We were expecting to hear something good,’’ Syed Abdul Rahim Gilani, the younger brother of the former Delhi University professor said. The Gilanis enjoy a great deal of clout in Baramulla for their religious, educational and philanthropic activities.

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Gilani’s mother, Syed Shahzaada, said the family would appeal against the verdict. ‘‘It is an hour of reckoning for the family and hopefully, we will see better times,’’ she said. ‘‘We will fight the case in higher courts, we will appeal in the Supreme Court,’’ added Abdul Rahim.

Abdul Rahim claimed that his brother was being ‘‘victimised’’ to score ‘‘brownie’’ points. ‘‘Everyone in Baramulla says the verdict is a political conspiracy,’’ he said. Baramulla witnessed protests and a bandh soon after the sentence was read out.

In Punjab, however, there was complete silence from the family of Navjot Sandhu, who changed her name to Asfan after she married Shaukat Guru. Afsan was sentenced today to five years rigorous imprisonment for not informing on her husband. Her family in Azimgarh village in Abohar sub-division locked themselves away from the outside world and the throng of journalists, and would open their doors to none.

Neighbours revealed that soon after Afsan was convicted, her father H S Sandhu, a retired railway superintendent, left town. Afsan’s mother, brother, his wife and children, and her father’s elder brother stayed behind. She has another brother, who’s in Australia.

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This traditional Jat Sikh village is where Sandhu bought a house after he retired. And this is where Afsan, described by neighbours as ‘‘smart and outgoing’’, briefly stayed. She reportedly felt stifled by the conservative culture, and soon left for Bhatinda to pursue higher studies. She later travelled to Ambala, Chandigarh and New Delhi, where she met and married Shaukat Guru. Her parents disowned her soon after the marriage.

A neighbour remarked today, ‘‘She has brought a bad name to all of us, but why are the parents being blamed?’’